


Following The Stars

by ap0II0



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cyberpunk 2077 Spoilers, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Messy Lesbians, Plot, The Star Ending (Cyberpunk 2077), angst (?) with a happy ending, smut but not yet but soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29014857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ap0II0/pseuds/ap0II0
Summary: After the Star ending, Judy and V go about living with the nomads as well as trying to find themselves a place to finally call home away from the soul sucking city that is Night City.
Relationships: Judy Alvarez & Panam Palmer, Judy Alvarez/Female V, Panam Palmer & Female V
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	1. I : The Magician Reversed

The sunset over the water stretched out in a beautiful haze of caramelized colours that resembled fire. It was truly breathtaking, especially to someone like V, this was amazing. Nothing but sky in sight, the light almost seemed to reflect off of the ground below like it was water.

V sat on the basilisk staring out to the horizon, Panam had already gone back inside, leaving V alone with just her thoughts. V couldn’t lie to herself, well for two things in this case. One, the view of the sunset over the long stretches of land outside of Night City was beautiful, and two, she was scared off her ass. 

V was scared for so many reasons, and the main one was about Judy. How was Judy going to feel once she told her about her death sentence? V didn’t want to hurt Judy, especially by telling her that she unfortunately only has 6 months left before her body deteriorates and all her organs shut down, thanks to that stupid fucking chips damage. 

Panam already knew, probably knew from the second V disconnected from Mikoshi that she didn't get the ‘happily ever after’ that was supposed to come from the AI, Alt. 

“Fuckin’ course,” V whispered in a sigh, of fucking course it didn’t go the way she planned. It seemed to V that everything she touches or gets involved in blows up in a ball of fire. Well, not everything, she had Judy, lovely, lovely Judy. How? How did her wonderful output stick around and abandon Night City with the crazy merc, is something V will never know. 

And now, she has to break bad news to her again, couldn’t they catch a fucking break? Have maybe one good fucking thing going for them? V signed and put her head in her hands before hearing a ping from her holo, a message from Panam.

[panam:] hey v, arriving somewhere we can set up camp soon, get in the basilisk.

[v:] yup, be right there pan.

V sat straight and shook her head, attempting to clear her not-so-happy thoughts before she stepped over to the entrance to the basilisk, slipping into the vehicle and jacking in. “Hey Pan.” V said coldly, barley sparing Panam a look. 

_“V.._ ” Panam started, V knew what she was going to say, and it pissed her off a bit that Pan knew her so well. “Stop freaking out, you know she isn’t going to be angry, she's your output and she loves you. Well at least from what I can see.” Panam told her in a so-very-not-like-Panam esque manner.

V laughed and turned towards her friend, “the fuck got you so sentimental huh?” V asked, it was much easier to tease Panam than actually face her own feelings.

“Fuck you, whatever, were here. How ‘bout you and Judy talk while I organize a quick camp set up. There's gonna be a briefing after tents are set up, I’ll come and get you and Judy when we're ready.” Panam said as she got herself out of the basilisk, not waiting for a response from V before she walked out and began organizing the family.

V slowly got out of the basilisk and saw Judy standing next to the large vehicle, a small smile crept against her lips as she saw her beautiful output, and smiled even wider as Judy returned the smile. V quickly jumped off the basilisk and pulled Judy into a hug, one she very much so needed.

“Hey mi calabacita,” Judy smiled and gave V a small kiss before letting go of the merc, still smiling towards her beautiful output.

“Hey Jude,” V said back, smiling at the wonderful woman before her, “did you enjoy your ride here with the family?” She asked, running her hand up and down Judy’s arm in a comforting manner. 

Judy smiled and leaned against the basilisk, “Me ‘n Carol bonded and talked about my BD edits, and her past with tech, she even told me ‘bout the time my beautiful output drained all the power from the camp in an ice bath?” Judy started chuckling by the time she had finished speaking.

V rolled her eyes and stood in front of Judy with a smirk, “that was _one_ time Jude, good to know you’re getting along with the family though.” V smiled and placed a light kiss on Judy’s lips. 

“Ahem.” A cough came from Panam who was standing two feet away from them, “the briefing is now if you two would be so kind as to not be the definition of PDA, and follow me.” Panam said, rolling her eyes as she began to walk

V chuckled and stared at Judy, holding her hand out for Judy to take. Once she did V smiled and walked in hand with her output like two lovesick teenagers as they followed Panam.

* * *

“... we’ll stay here for a week, scout out the area ahead. There's a town a days drive out, we should be able to stock up on supplies there and find out where to go from there. That’s all.” Panam said, closing up the short briefing of what they’d be doing.

Just as V and Judy were about to leave, Panam flagged V down and called her name, “Wait V, I need to run something by you. Uh Judy you and V’s tents are at the end to the left, V will meet you there.” Panam said, meeting the same authority she had throughout the briefing.

V shot Judy a small smile and was returned with a nod from Judy. V could tell Judy was probably upset at this. She could tell by the way Judy clenched her fists and put more weight on her heels as she walked out. V understood that Pan wanted to talk and for… this situation she could not include Judy.

Panam waited for Judy to leave before she looked to V. “So, you going to tell Judy, or are you just going to be an asshole to the person who hauled their ass out of night city to go live with nomads for you?” Panam said quickly and angrily, leaning against some weapons boxes that were currently being used as a table.

“Look Pan I know you’re angry at me but I-” V began to speak before getting cut off almost immediately.

“No V, but you can’t be a gonk and go ruin your one good fucking relationship with a person by not telling them about your death sentence.” Panam said with a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck, trying to stop herself from going too hard on the merc. “I know Judy and I haven’t talked much but I know you V, you’re my family, and that means Judy is too. Please fucking tell her.”

V sighed and nodded, “I’ll tell her soon, just I don’t think I can tonight. Goodnight Pan.” V said before walking out of the tent. Of course V knew she had to tell Judy, she wasn’t going to keep lying to Judy, she couldn’t. Although she hasn’t yet quite said it, she loved Judy. V shook her head as she walked, she could tell Judy, hell she was a mercenary, she's killed probably thousands. V has done the hardest gigs possible, kidnapping Hanako Arasaka? Easy. Crucifying a man for a BD? Scary, yet easy. But telling her output she was dying yet again? Fucking impossible.

V walked into the tent she and Judy were sharing, smiling when she saw her output sitting on their bed wearing her usual bedtime wear of her purple and blue shorts and black bra. From what V could tell she was either watching a BD, or editing one. 

The merc slowly approached Judy and laid her hand on her outputs thigh, attempting to bring her out of the trance of the BD. “Hey Jude.” she said with a smile, quickly moving herself to be straddling Judy’s thighs.

Judy lifted the BD wreath from her head and smiled at the girl sitting on her lap, “Hey calabacita, was wondering when you were gonna come back.” She said with a smirk, laying her hands on V’s hips. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. What were you watching?” V asked with a smile, following mimicking Judy’s actions by also putting her hands on Judy’s hips, her hands slipping down to her outputs thighs almost immediately.

Judy shook her head, “Not watching, editing. I was editing our BD.” She said with a smirk, her hands raising under my shirt to rub V’s back. 

“The Laguna Bend one?” V asks, bringing her arms up to grab Judy’s back and drag her on top of V as they fall onto the length of the small bed they were sharing. Judy simply nodded in response, using her arms to prop herself up, “I thought you had already finished that one?” 

“I did,” Judy responded and smiled, giving V a quick peck on the lips, “but a true artist's works are never finished.” she said with a wink, now moving to kiss down V’s neck, her hand snaking up V’s shirt and resting just below her chest.

“Juuuuude-” V groaned, in all honesty she was tired, although she loved what Judy was doing to her, she was weared out from all the days events. “I love _this_ , buuuut I’m really tired.” V told her, grabbing a hold of Judy’s face and giving her a lovely all-consuming kiss.

Judy flopped down on V and took in a breath, smiling and burying her face in V’s neck. “That’s alright mi calabacita, I’m tired too, and we finally have a bed we can share bigger than the one at my gonk apartment.”

V smiled and moved up the bed a little, so that her head was resting on the pillow in a semi-comfortable position. “Yeah, I like it.” V said with a small chuckle, in all honesty she had another small thought in her mind, a nagging thought that one narcissistic asshole should be poking around her thoughts, making fun of her for not ‘getting the girl’ as Johnny would say.

It hadn’t even been that long since she got his construct removed from her brain, and yet she found herself missing her obnoxious roommate in her brain. If she was being truthful, the two had become sort of friends by the end of their journey, and now V found herself missing the gonk rockerboy.

As V let her thoughts roam, she instinctively found herself caressing her outputs back in a comforting matter, and the sounds of Judy’s little snores brought her back from her wandering thoughts. V smiled and took in a breath, Judy, as per usual, smelled like roses and vanilla with a hint of… well something V couldn’t put into words but if she had to, love.

As V layed there, with her snoring output on her, she felt nothing but serenity, peacefulness in being free from the shackles of corporations, personality constructs, hell most of all being _free_ from _Night City_. It seemed impossible to the merc less than a month ago. Well, she knew she wanted to leave Night City in the dust, with Judy by her side she could go anywhere, and she especially wanted to meet Judy’s grandparents. Ever since that fateful dive at Laguna Bend, V was left wondering what the Àlverez’s were like. If they were anything like Judy, V knew she would love them, and well V hopes they like her too.

As V’s thoughts continued to wander towards Judy’s grandparents, she too found herself drifting to sleep, enjoying the company she felt in her lover's sleeping arms.


	2. 0 : The Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> panam and v go on a drive, v tries to talk about her feelings without being a gonk for once,.

_ Nothing, that's all she could see. A black void that stretched from each corner of her mind even as she tied to look around, nothing. As she slowly adjusted to the darkness of the void, she could see small specks that seemed hundreds of miles away. She tried to take a step forward but she felt stuck in place. As she continued to look around she could see flashes of things, moving too quick for her to pinpoint what was happening.  _

_ “V! V wake the fuck up-  _ V I swear to god-”

V woke up with a start as she heard Panam yelling. She opened her eyes and tried to adjust to the light from the early morning light. She could feel a small headache creeping up from the back of her neck as she looked over to the leader of the Aldecaldos. She could hear the light breathing coming from her output who was right next to her, indicating she was still asleep.

V dragged herself out of bed, “Ugh Pan what time is it?” she whispered lightly trying to not wake Judy.

Panam clearly didn't give a shit about the sleeping BD editor as she spoke in her normal, loud tone of voice. “It’s 5 am and you’re coming with me on a scouting mission.” Before V could even try to respond Panam was already making her way to one of the cars they had.  _ No need to break out the basilisk this time I guess, _ V thought, silently following the Aldecaldo leader. 

As they got into the car, similar looking to the car _ “Beast”  _ that V had gotten from Claire after the races, Panam threw V a protein bar, “That’s breakfast, eat it when you want, lunch is another one in,” Panam checked her watch before continuing, “7 hours.”

V looked to the side as the car started rolled off, she watched as the early light of the outskirts of California passed her by. She soon took out and ate her breakfast protein bar. It tasted dull, boring, and like nothingness. 

Soon hours passed like minutes, they hadn’t seen anything in a while and V could sense that this wasn't going to be the best time to speak to Panam, V could tell that she was angered with her, so V said nothing.

Soon it was already past 3pm and Panam finally spoke, “So, I take it you haven’t told her yet.”

V paused, contemplating if she should say anything at all. “I didn’t,” V spoke in a soft voice, one almost unnatural to her, she didn’t  _ fear _ Panam necessarily, but she did not exactly like getting yelled at by her.

“I’m not gonna yell at you, V.” 

_ Oh well, that's a surprise.  _ V thought, looking over to Panam, “I don’t exactly have an explanation, I just-”

“No V,” Panam cut her off. “After some thought, I’m not _ actually _ mad at you. But for Christ's sake V, grow a pair and learn how to talk to your family. Because that’s what we are, we’re your family V. All of the Aldecaldos, even if you don’t feel very welcome yet, you will feel it soon. And stop fucking holding shit from your output, you gonk.” Panam told her in a serious, yet light tone. 

V stared out into the horizon as they drove, letting Panam's words run in her mind and process. After a few minutes she finally returned to looking at Panam, “I’ll tell her today, I promise.” V said with a curt nod, a way of showing she was being serious. 

“If you don’t, I’m making you help Luce with food for the next month.” Panam joked, looking over to the ‘legendary’ merc with a playful smile. They sat the rest of the drive in a…  _ comfortable _ silence.

* * *

“Hey kid, toss me the wrench,” Carol yelled out from across the make-shift garage. Since Judy had started working with Carol and the rest of the techy Aldecaldos, she had been doing work quite different to what she was used to.

Fixing cars was no virtu tuning, but it kept her busy, and she got to bond with Carol, who Judy found was quite similar to herself.

“Sure thing,” Judy called out before bringing the wrench over to Carol, afterwards she headed back to the mess of a car she was working on, seemed like an oil leak, but holy  _ fuck _ did it cause one hell of a mess. The first time Judy had been asked to fix an engine she wore gloves, you know, like a civilized human being, and now that all the techy group of Aldecldos talk about. The city girl, too scared to get some grease on her hands, of course, that's the first impression she gave to the family. 

A few moments passed before Judy could hear a car pull up, she took off her gloves and walked out of the garage to go see who was coming in. 

“V!” Once Judy had realized who it was she ran over to meet V. When V hopped out of the car Judy greeted her with a hug and a small kiss, “fucking gonk-brain, couldn’t even bother to wake your output up to tell me you were leaving for the day?” Judy half-joked as she looked over the girl before her in an overprotective manner.

V smiled and leaned in and kissed Judy again, “I’m sorry Jude, I barely had any time to wake up myself, and you were pretty conked out, didn’t even hear Panam’s yelling.” V laughed and looked at Judy with a kind smile, that damn fucking smile, it always got Judy in all the right ways. Judy could tell even in night city this heartless merc wasn't as heartless as she seemed. From the moment V helped her search a whole damn building just to find Evelyn because she knew Judy cared about her, Judy could tell this merc was a little different from the rest, and as they got further in their relationship, it slowly became more and more obvious. Now? Now Judy has a  _ puppy _ -like merc for an output, always smiling just so Judy will smile too, even though V was a gonk-brain at emotions, she sure was cute. 

Judy practically had to shake her head to clear her thoughts before grabbing V’s hand and leading her to a log by a small fire, “Let’s sit.” Judy smiled and sat down, staring expectantly at V.

V rolled her eyes and sat down next to Judy, letting a small chuckle slip out. Judy just stared at her, feeling all warm inside, whether that was from the fire, or from lo- liking someone, is something Judy couldn’t tell yet. “So, what did you do all day babe?” Judy asked, leaning on her outputs shoulder, staring at the fire, letting the comfortable feelings settle, hoping V would have at least something funny to say.

V laughed, “surprisingly? Nothing, Pan and I just spent the whole day driving, but I did find something that might be nice for us to do together.” V explained, holding her hand out for Judy to take, which Judy did, and she did not exactly find the position  _ comfortable _ but it was nice. 

Judy found herself slightly intrigued at what V had said, she turned her head which was still resting on V’s shoulder to look the merc in the eyes. “So, what is it you found huh?” Judy asked with a mischievous smirk, bringing her hand to rest on V’s thigh.

“It’s a surprise?” V said with a goofy grin which was quickly taken over by a fading smile. “I mean, maybe we could go there now, it's not really that late yet, right?” V suggested, Judy could see her look at her phone and squinted for a minute, “Yeah, 8pm isn't too long for an hour-long walk right?” Judy had to almost physically restrain herself from smacking her output before V cut in again. “Hey hey- I was just joking, we’ll drive!”

Judy just smiled and stood up, “So, miss mysterious, take me to the place you’ve found?” She said with a smirk, yet again holding her hand out for V, “Lead the way.”

* * *

After about 30 minutes they had finally arrived, Judy and V both exited the car and Judy couldn’t believe what she saw. It was a cliff that rested over a small lake before them, and the sun had just started setting, leaving a burning golden glow that reflected on the water. 

“V.. this is so pretty, how did you find this?” Judy asked, taking a seat on the edge of the cliff before looking over to V with bewilderment. 

V sat down beside her and smiled as she also looked over the water. “I found it on my drive with Pan, I thought we might be able to swim here while we have camp set up near it. This time though the water’s not actually toxic.” V smiled, looking over to Judy, but her smile quickly turned into a small frown. 

Judy quickly noticed the mood change and shuffled over closer to V, “What’s wrong V?” Judy asked, reaching out and holding V’s hand in a comforting manner. 

V looked away from Judy for a small moment, she opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, and then she closed it again, thinking over her words carefully. “There- there was a different reason that I wanted to bring you here,” V said with a frown, trying her best to look anywhere but at her output. 

Judy waited for a minute before speaking, hoping V would continue speaking. “What is it V, why’d you bring me here?”

V took a deep breath before looking at Judy, “I need to tell you about what happened in Mikoshi, uh- Alt was able to split Johnny and my personalities, but the problem was… well my body now physically belongs to Johnny. I have about 6 months left before my body starts fighting me from the inside.” V explained slowly, in a shaky breath.

Judy stared off,  _ fuck I should have seen this coming _ . “ _ V, _ why didn’t you tell me.” Judy sounded almost hurt, but she was just sad, she thought  _ this, _ being able to have a second chance outside of night city would give her a chance to spend time with V, as long as possible. Before V could say anything, Judy spoke up again. “I’m not mad, V, I’m just- I thought we could have our second chance here, but I guess 6 months is a good time to be able to spend with you. Have you thought of any rippers outside of NC that might be able to help?” 

V nodded, “Panam and I have been trying to find some, she says some of the family have heard of good rippers in Nevada and Oregon. I promise you we’re going to spend every single moment possible of the next 6 months trying to fix this.” V promised, squeezing Judy’s hand before standing and letting go, “I’m uh, I’m gonna let you be alone, uhm process what I said, text me if you need me.” V smiled and walked away slowly, leaving Judy alone.

A while after V left, Judy heard a car pull up. She turned around and saw Panam stepping out of her car. Judy watched as Panam walked up to her and sat down next to her. “Hey Panam.”

Panam looked at Judy before looking back out over the cliff. “So, V told you.” She stated matter-of-factly. 

“You knew before me?” Judy asked, frowning.

Panam smiled at her, “She didn’t have a choice, I practically knew immediately after she left Mikoshi. I tried to force her to tell you but uh, you know how V is.” Panam explained, giving Judy an apologetic look.

Judy paused for a second. “Well, as much as she’s shit with feelings, I guess I’m glad she told me at all. And uuh, can you give me a lift back to camp?”

Panam nodded and stood up, “Yeah sure, nice talk, let's get back.”

* * *

Judy walked back into camp and scanned the area, not seeing V anywhere, she decided to head back to the tent.

And what she found- was the cutest thing ever. She found V sleeping on the bed, one hand falling off the bed with V’s face planted into the pillow like a squashed synth-marshmallow. It almost looked like she was drooling, even if Judy was angry at her, she sure was fucking adorable.  _ Wait, did she eat supper? Or actual food at all today? _ Judy thought, already leaving the tent to go get some food for her gonk. 

Judy walked out to the clearing and walked over to where Lucy was serving food, grabbing two bowls of chili and returning to the tent where her output was sleeping.

“Hey, hey, wake up,” Judy said with a smile as she nudged V awake.

V started at her groggily with a goofy smile, “I uhgmm took a nap.” V laughed, slowly waking up and sitting up to look at the girl before her, then at the food Judy brought her. “Awheeeeee you brought me food?” She said sleepily with a smile. 

Judy nodded, handing V a bowl before sitting down next to her. “Yeah, I don’t think you ate anything other than Panam’s stupid protein bars.”

V started quickly eating her food, smiling, “Yeah- Pan doesn’t believe in real food apparently.” V joked, almost immediately finishing her food and looking at Judy with a smile. “Is it kay' if I go back to sleep?”

Judy nodded, discarding her own empty bowl to the floor before looking back at V, “as long as you let me join you this time, I’m also pretty beat and I wouldn’t mind the cuddles.” Judy suggested, already moving to lay down on the small bed they share. And soon Judy felt V joining her too before she drifted to sleep holding the person who she cared about most in this world.

* * *

Judy woke up alone, checking her phone she saw it was about 4am and there was no message from V telling Judy where she had gone. Judy sat up and rubbed her eyes groggily before standing and putting on a Jacket she stole from V, walking outside of the tent to go look for her.

She walked around the camp, it was eerily quiet compared to her apartment in Night City. From what she could see, V wasn’t in camp, she looked around for a bit longer until she found V sitting alone on a rock, phone out and turned on sitting in her hand as she was staring out across the stretches of the land, seeing small towns far off into the distance, almost so far they looked like little specks.

Judy moved to sit next to V, “I thought we were done with you leaving me sleeping alone in the middle of the night?” Judy joked, putting a hand on V’s, “What’s up calabacita, what’re you doin’ out here alone?”

V looked to her and shut off her phone, putting it back in her pocket. “I just needed air, that’s all.” She said with a tired smile, “Want to go back to our tent, I'm pretty tired?” 

Judy nodded and stood, “Sure thing baby, you know you can tell me if somethings up, y’know.” For a response, V just nodded, and together they walked back into camp, surprised to see a few people in the clearing. These people consisted of three family members who were going on the sort of nighttime guard post/scouting missions, and Panam.

“V! Thank fuck- we were looking for you but you weren’t in your tent.” Panam scolded the merc, before looking around the camp, “So we may have a  _ minor _ problem.”

V responded, not missing a beat, “What the fuck kind of problem?”

“Well you see- Arasaka followed us across the border.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading ! hope you liked this chapter, it took me a while to write but i promise more is coming, if you'd like to ask me questions directly about the fic you can always talk to me on discord ! apollo#7902 is me, have a nice day guys! ill edit this to say when the next chapter will come out when i know. also thanks for 500 reads in just a week!
> 
> \- ap0II0


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